“We’ll enter here, and exit here,” he says. “The trip can take three days depending on the asteroid density. The stations slow down substantially before we reach the field, though. If we hit the field flying faster than light—BOOM.” He claps his hands. The sharp slap pierces my ears. “Game over. Hope you can hold your breath.”

He chuckles at our flat expressions, then restores the image to its original state and walks us back to the front of the lab, where he pulls off the tendril gloves. As he does, Ellin exhales, huffing, and Glacia releases her breath, her face a bit red.

“I win,” she whispers to Ellin, and I realize they were holding their breath in a contest.

“Moving along,” Officer Remmit says. “Downstairs, shall we?”

He takes us everywhere he can. Floors 1 and 2 both house military equipment. Molters stand at rest in neat lines and racks of weapons line the walls of Floor 2, and crates of ammunition are arranged in tightly packed groups on Floor 1. Other vehicles sit motionless: trucks with turrets, bulky cars with treads, and four-wheeled vehicles with mounted automatic guns.

We spend extra time in the Engineering Sector on Floor 7 so Ellin can get a feel for where she’ll be working. After that we go to the Medical Bay on Floor 12. The whole level is nothing more than a simpler version of a hospital, what with the rows of beds and monitors lining the walls.

“Worst that ever happens is someone trips on a treadmill,” Officer Remmit tells us. “Twisted ankle, skinned knee. The kinds of stupid accidents I’m at liberty to mock you for.”

We finally move to the observatory. I’ve been anxious to visit it because it’s the second-most impressive feature of the Ember, behind only the Bridge. The glass dome allows an unobstructed view in all directions. Lounge chairs and couches and low tables are scattered around the room. At the very center is a wide pedestal with hologram panels circling its top.

Officer Remmit points at the pedestal. “That’s a StarPad, the most immersive stargazing experience you’ll ever have.”

Glacia nudges me. Her grin tells me she wants to spend a lot of time here.

“I might as well ask,” Michael says. “You invent that too?”

Officer Remmit scratches behind his ear.

“I did.”

Orcher’s private office is located at the back of his platform in the Bridge. A timetable is displayed on one of the walls, with all thirty days listed in a line. Today—Wednesday, June 18—is labeled as Depart Undil. The next eighteen days are blank until Sunday, July 6. Both it and July 7 have Perihelid Asteroid Field over them, and then nothing until Thursday, July 17: the day we reach Belvun.